Put together a former band frontman who designs bars for a living, and a derelict Islington venue, and what do you get? Rattlesnake, which sounds like a '70s act that might've put out an album called Venomizer, but is actually two wood-heavy rooms & a roof terrace replete with neon, a wall of vinyl, pillars made from wine boxes, and Southwestern US touches like painted steer skulls. You'll get hard-rocked on drinks like the Mamma's Margarita (which subs out the Cointreau for apricot liqueur & jam), a Bittersweet Symphony of vodka, raspberries, lime & Campari, and the ginger/orgeat Cachacasnake. Food hails from the same US region as that margarita, with a tuna taco salad, huevos rancheros, and corn dogs that'll have you fetching sticks. The jukebox will power the front room with "proper music" (early Bowie, Velvet Underground, The Black Keys...), while the back-stage can look forward to a lineup including The Howling, The Deadstring Brothers, Vita and the Vicious, and the gloriously named Satan's Buttcheeks, which like this bar owner and his venue, will hopefully stay put together.
